


In The Night I Met You Again

by Mila_o_Tuna



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A Little Bit of Humor, A little bit of Shallura, AU, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Grown-up, Hangover, Lance is having a hard time knowing/figuring out that he is bi, M/M, Mild Gore, Mild Sexual Content, Party, Re-Meeting, True Love, a little bit of Lotor/Keith, and a tiny tiny mention of shieth, bartending, forbidden love perhaps, living in New York, the gang goes out, time skipping, vampire, very much Klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-14 10:06:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13587801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mila_o_Tuna/pseuds/Mila_o_Tuna
Summary: After Keith disappears Lance is devastated. Several years later they meet again, but something is dreadfully different.





	1. An Unreal Experience

Today was the day. The day that Lance would finally give in to his feelings and confess. He’d been up all night dealing with the fact that he had a crush. Normally he would not mind having a crush, he had been flirting with almost every girl he met all through high school. But this was different. This person that now filled his head up was different. Lance had never in his wildest dreams thought he’d end up falling for someone like this. 

It was one week before graduation, and then everyone would go off to their respective colleges.as he walked the corridors, he thought of what to say, actually he had practiced a small speech all night and was going through it in his head. 

As he reached his locker, his two best friends were standing by, talking about their last exams. They normally met there in the morning before going to class, so Lance was not surprised when Hunk and Pidge greeted him by his locker. 

The three of them had a lot of classes together and had been inseparable friends since middle school. 

“Okay guys, today I’m going to do something wildly insane! I mean I don’t even know why but I figured out that I might fancy a certain someone. Which is so weird because you know I have always had this rivalry going on with him, you know, but yesterday I figured it out, and I am panicking! But I will do it” Lance was speaking fast, not even saying hello to his friends before he started explaining his current crisis. 

“Wow wow Lance, slow down. First of all, what are you talking about?” Hunk asked. Neither of them had really listened closely. They knew that sometimes Lance could talk very much without making any sense. 

“You were right when you joked about me! Me and… you know… me and that guy” 

“You mean Keith? You finally figured out how big of a crush you have on him?” Pidge said. 

“What do you mean? You sound like you’ve known for a long time?! This is all new information!” Lance seemed confused, but he was still in a sort of panicking phase, which made his brain work a little slower. He had figured out his feelings just yesterday, and his friends already knew? Weird. 

“Come on Lance. We know you! We can see if you like someone, that’s why we joked about it” Hunk explained with a small laugh. 

“I hate you guys” was all Lance said, though he did not mean it. 

“So” Pidge said “are you going to confess to him today?” She asked very interested. 

“I am! And he will not be able to say no to me” Lance looked proud as he lifted his head. “unless he is really straight, then I don’t know what I’m going to do” 

“dude, you might just now have discovered your bisexuality, but that guy is as gay as they come, trust me” Hunk said, Pidge agreed with a nod of her head. 

“How do you know that?” Lance could not tell, and he was the one who had the most classes with him. He even thought he was the one who spoke with Keith the most, they were friends after all. 

“we have eyes Lance, have you seen what that boy is wearing?” Pidge said. 

“or how he looks at guys sometimes?” Hunk added in. 

“He has never even had a girlfriend, I think you’re pretty safe there” Pidge said, trying to convince Lance of the fact that they already knew.

“And there is even a chance he might like you too dude, do you remember that party a couple of weeks ago where the two of you slow danced when you were really drunk?” Hunk added. 

“No I don’t! did we?! Man why can’t I remember such things?!” Lance seemed distressed, they might have been dancing with their arms around each other, that would have been an important memory for Lance, maybe it would have helped him figure his feelings out a little sooner. Why oh why did alcohol have such an effect on him?

“You did and it seemed so romantic until Hunk barfed in the couch and we had to go home” Pidge laughed.

“Oh man why do you throw up so easily?!” Lance said, not that it was bad, if anything else had happened between Lance and Keith that he could not remember, Lance would have been in misery. 

“I’m just not good with alcohol! Don’t blame me” Hunk said as the school clock rang and it was time to the first class. 

“Well loverboy you better go, you’re first class is with your special guy after all” Pidge said teasingly while she wiggled her eyebrows at lance, making Hunk laugh. The two of them went to class and Lance took in a large breath before going to his class. 

In class he sat down on his usual seat in the middle of the class. He usually sat beside Keith but today when he turned his head, he wasn’t there. The seat was empty. Even though he looked around Keith were nowhere to be seen. ‘weird..’ he thought to himself ‘he never misses school.. and this close to graduating? What happened?’.

The teacher arrived in class. She seemed a little off today. 

“Good morning class” She started out like always. 

“Today I have some somewhat upsetting news, but I have been asked by the police to tell you” 

An unsettling atmosphere spread out in the room. 

“As you can see, we are missing a student today, Keith Kogane..” 

Lance felt his heart almost stop, all sorts of questions running through his head, was he okay? What had happened? Was he dead? He was dead worried for his classmate. 

“This Saturday he was out running at night and never returned home. His parents haven’t heard from him and the police is still looking” 

Lance felt cold, how could this happen? What was this? 

“Our hopes and prayers are with him and his family. But the police had asked me to tell you to be careful when you’re out at night, as we don’t know if anyone is out there” 

The rest of the class flew right by lances head. And he ended up skipping the rest of the day, sitting out in front of the school. He could not believe what had happened, he did not know what to do. He felt heartbroken and worried out of nowhere. 

As soon as the bell rang schools out, he was accompanied by his friends. They had of course already heard the news as well. They sat beside Lance, both of them worried as well but not as much as Lance.  
“Hey, he is coming back, it’s properly just something temporary. The police will find him soon and then you can meet up, so you can end up together” Hunk said. 

“I don’t know guys, it sounds pretty hopeless.” Lance said, he never knew his feelings towards his fellow student, before now. He could not believe how worried and sad he was to hear the news. He had had those feelings for a long time without recognizing it. And he couldn’t help but think if he hadn’t been so late, then maybe they would have spent time together Saturday, and then this wouldn’t have happened. 

“He’ll show up buddy” Pidge tried to assure him. 

But he never did. From that day on Keith was a ghost and never returned to the city. Lance and everyone else had to move on. And so they did. Sort of.

 

Five years past. 

Lance had graduated collage and now moved to New York city with Hunk and Pidge to start fresh. And where else to go to chase your dreams than the big apple? 

Today was a great day. Lance had been to a job interview at an advertising agency and got the job. He had been practicing his pitching the last three months which almost had been driving Hunk and Pidge Insane. But it had paid off well, because it had secured him a dream job. 

The three friends met up at the apartment they shared. They each had a room for them self and then there was a big combined living room and kitchen in the middle, having big windows facing the city. A very nice place to stay and to host parties. They had gained a couple of friends after living in New York for a year, of which they went out with now and then. 

“Guess what guys!!!” was the first thing Lance said when he entered the living room. 

The two had already had a great feeling about his interview and therefore Hunk had baked a cake saying ‘congratulations! We knew you’d get it!’

“You got it?!” Both asked simultaneously as they stood to greet and congratulate him. 

“I got it!” Lance shouted out happily. 

The three of them met in a group hug. They popped a bottle of Champaign to celebrate the new job. Everything had sure gone a lot better since high school. All three of them were now working a place they had dreamed of. Hunk was currently working at a bakery while taking gourmet courses at night. Pidge had recently been hired by an inventions company and today Lance landed the interview. 

“You know what guys? We have to celebrate this properly!” Pidge said “Allura have been talking about a new bar that her friend from collage goes to all the time, let’s call the others and go there tonight! It should be very good” 

“that’s the best Idea I’ve heard from you in ages Pidge” Lance joked, but he was so ready to go out. 

“I’ll call them” Hunk said, already finding the first number in his phone. 

While Hunk were inviting their new York friends Lance asked Pidge about this friend of Allura’s. 

“who is Allura’s collage friend? And is she single?” Lance had yet to find someone he’d be as fond of as he was with Keith, and that meant he had to go out and meet people. 

“his names Shiro, and I haven’t met him, but I think Allura herself might like him” Pidge explained. 

“Damn, I really need to start dating again you know” 

“again? You’ve never dated anyone more than once. You need to get over you know who Lance, it’s been five years” 

“I am over him! I just haven’t found the right one yet” 

“then you might have the chance tonight!” 

“yes! I’ll totally go for the first cute girl I see tonight!”

“or guy?” 

“No I’m straight as can be” Lance said, and truth been told he had only liked one guy in his life and the rest had been girls. 

“fine fine” Pidge laughed him off, she still saw him as bisexual. 

After a little while Hunk was done inviting people and they had found a place to meet near the bar. 

At night they met up. 10 people in total. Shiro, Allura’s friend from collage, showed the way to the bar, he was the only one who had been there before. 

The entrance was underneath a half-roof. Properly preventing rain to hit those who stood in line. It seemed to be a very popular bar, people were lining up outside just to get in. Shiro however, knew some of the staff so they was lucky enough to skip the line and get in immediately. 

When they were inside they found a table while Shiro went to bar to greet his friends. 

Lance went to the bar as well, he’d give the first round since they were celebrating him. 

It was crowded in there, and there were a lot of people in front of the bar. He looked it over, the bar was very beautifully decorated, made of very dark wood and glass, it all seemed very clean. Behind the bar was every kind of alcohol Lance knew, put in color order, making it pleasing for the eye to watch. And the bartenders. The bartenders were beautiful with dark hair and pale skin. It was almost like they had hired by looks. 

Lance spotted Shiro by the bar talking to a bartender. Lances eyes landed on the bartender, a guy with black hair, a little longer than normally, falling perfectly around his face, with just a little bit in between his eyes. He had pale gracious skin and a physique that was to die for. He had muscle but not a lot, just enough to be defined. His eyes were blue-gray, they gave lance a feeling of recognition. He had almost reached the bar when he realized just who this bartender was. He never thought he’d ever see him again, it was Keith he was sure. He stared at him for a couple of minutes, just to be sure. He was sure. The bartender who was properly Keith suddenly looked his way and lance quickly looked away. He hurried back to the others. 

“Hey, where’s the drinks?” Hunk asked. 

“I saw him” was all Lance said. 

“you saw who?” Pidge asked. 

“Keith! I saw Keith! He’s alive and he is working here!” Lance said pretty loud, nobody else knew Keith so they all just glared at him curiously. They were properly wondering what the backstory was. 

“No way! That’s impossible he disappeared five years ago” Hunk said. Him and Pidge had a hard time believing him. They knew he’d seen him in dreams before, so it was properly just someone who looked like him. 

“I know but he is here, Shiro talked to him, you’ve got to come and see for yourself” Lance dragged them away from the table by their hands so they could see.

Because of the amount of people it took them a couple of minutes to get to somewhere they could see the bar clearly. And only two bartenders behind the bar now were both girls. Keith was no longer there.  
“Where is he Lance? I can only see those two girls” Pidge said in his ear. 

“He was here before! Shiro spoke to him! Huh?” Shiro wasn’t there either. “wait where’s Shiro?” 

“Lance are you sure that you saw him and not just someone who looked like him?” Hunk asked, both him and Pidge looked a little worried. 

“I am sure, we can ask Shiro, we just need to find him” Lance seemed confused, but he was determined to figure out if Keith was actually alive. 

“He properly went to the table. Let’s order some drinks and then go back and ask him” Pidge said, already on her way to the bar to order. 

They ordered drinks and went back to the table. And just as Pidge had said Shiro was sitting beside Allura, chatting. They sat down and greeted Shiro. 

“So I saw you talking with a guy in the bar with black hair, is that someone you know?” Lance asked Shiro right after greeting him. Pidge and Hunk shaking their heads at him. 

“Who Keith? Yeah I’ve known him for a couple of years, his ma-well, him and some of his friends owns this bar, it’s pretty cool” Shiro explained to Lance. 

Lance’s heart beat faster, it was him, it was really him. He wanted to just run up and hug him, tell him how much he had missed him. But that would be uncool, besides he could not see him before so maybe he was on a break? 

“Is he having a break or do you think I can meet him now?” Lance asked, he seemed a little desperate, but that was only understandable since he had not seen this guy in five years. 

“You wanna meet him?” Shiro asked with a smirk on his lips. “he’s actually off now, so he’s changing and then he joins the party. I can introduce you to each other if you’d like” 

“really? Please do that!” Lance said. He couldn’t believe it. Was this a dream? If it was he didn’t want to wake up. 

“Okay I have already told him where we’re sitting so he’ll be here in a couple of minutes” Shiro smiled at Lance and then returned to his conversation with Allura. 

“can you believe it guys?! He is here, and I’ll talk to him! This day is officially mega ultra cool now!” Lance was clearly excited. 

“I hav got to admit I couldn’t believe it. But it seems like you were right” Pidge and Hunk laughed, they were happy to see their friend out of misery. 

A couple of minutes passed and the guy from the bar arrived at the table. He was now wearing a white T-shirt with a black jacket, tight black pants and a long necklace with a what seemed like a ring in it. He looked pretty stylish, maybe he was rich. 

“Hey Shiro” he said to gain his friend’s attention. 

Shiro turned to him with a smile “Hey Keith, say hello to all my new friends” He introduced everyone, saving lance till the end. 

“..and this is-“ he was cut off by Keith.

“Lance..” was what Keith said as soon as he laid eyes on lance when Shiro was about to introduce him.

“Oh so you know each other?” Shiro asked. He had thought that Lance had just found Keith attractive. 

“We went to High School together” Keith said looking at Shiro. They exchanged some weird looks as if they were silently communicating. But Lance didn’t think further about it. 

“Ohhh then you have a lot of catching up to do” Shiro winked at him and returned to Allura once again. 

“Hi keith, it’s been a while” Lance said. Keith sighed and sat down besides Lance. 

“It really has.” He agreed. 

“What happened back in high school?” Lance asked eager to know the answer. 

“well, I was kidnapped, for a long time, and when I got away I couldn’t return home, so I moved here to live with, some.. friends” Keith explained it short, it was clear that he did not want to talk about it.  
“that sounds rough how did you make it through?” Lance asked. 

Keith sighed “listen Lance, I do want to catch up, but I don’t want to talk about it, so why don’t you tell me about what you have been doing for the last what is it? 5 years?” 

“Okay okay! I’ll tell you everything!” Lance started talking about his life and what had happened the last five years. And soon they were in a conversation about Lance even though he had been dying to know what had happened to Keith. But Keith seemed more interested in not talking about his own life. 

Time passed and since Keith was one of the owners he had some of the staff bring down drinks for all of them a couple of times. 

After a couple of hours, everyone could really feel the alcohol, you could say that they were drunk. It was the time of the night where the good music was really good for dancing. 

At that time Shiro asked everyone if they were up to dancing. Half of the people said yes including Allura, Pidge and Keith. 

“Why aren’t you dancing with Keith?” Hunk asked Lance after the others had gone to the dance floor. 

At first Lance didn’t answer, his attention was set on Keith, who was moving on the floor. His movements were slick and just right for the rhythm like he was no novice in dancing. 

“wait what?” Lance said. Hunk laughed loudly at Lance. 

“I’m asking why you’re not dancing with your future boyfriend over there?” Hunk said jokingly. 

“My future boyfriend” Lance repeated, his eyes still set on Keith on the dancefloor. “Wait no I am over him you know that!” lance said. 

“yeah right dude, then why are you staring at him so much?”

“I am not!” Lance said and turned his attention to Hunk instead. 

“You totally were” Hunk joked “ You know that if you keep denying it someone else is going to take him” 

“nah man, you remember how unpopular he was in high school? Besides I’m not into him” Lance whined.

“I know, but he certainly seems popular now” Hunk was watching the crowd, a lot of people were checking out Keith as he was dancing. 

“Pff I don’t believe you, and I’m not looking because I am showing you that I am not into him anymore” Lance was now protesting. 

“Okay that’s good cause it seems like him and Shiro might be a little closer than we thought. If you were into Keith you would be so jealous right now” 

“What?!” Lance looked at them once again and Hunk wasn’t lying. Even though it was a pretty fast song, Shiro and Keith was dancing quite close. Shiro even had one arm around him, holding him close as they moved to the rhythm. Allura seemed just as jealous as Lance did. 

Shiro and Keith was at this point talking into each other’s ears. Keith held a hand on Shiro’s cheek, making sure that he’d stay close enough to hear what he had to say. After it seemed like they had had a conversation Shiro let go of Keith and they stepped away from each other and kept on dancing. 

Lance was staring at them. Shiro saw that and waved Lance out onto the dancefloor. 

Lance was so jealous that he stood up and went to the dancefloor even though he could not dance. Shiro pushed lance over to Keith before he took Allura’s hand so he could dance with her. 

It was so crowded that when lance was pushed to Keith, the crowd pushed them even closer together. Lance started dancing with Keith, only about 9 inches apart. They were now surrounded by strangers on the dancefloor. It was almost like they were out alone. 

For every minute that passed they stepped a little bit closer to each other. Lance could still not believe this was happening, it all felt so surreal, which was partly due to the alcohol running through his veins at the moment, and the loud music pumping through his head, but mostly because the only one he had ever really fallen for was right in front of him again. Dancing. He had been aging well, Lance thought to himself, was he this sexy in High School? 

For a moment Lance thought they were going to dance as close as he had seen him dance with Shiro, but some guy pushed himself in between them. This guy was taller than them and had a lot of muscle. He started dancing with Keith instead of Lance. Lance was not happy about that and even less when he saw the guy starting to put his hands over Keith. But Keith pushed him away and made his way to Lance. 

The guy leaned in and said something to Keith. Lance could not hear it due to the loud music. Keith shook his head and stepped really close to Lance. He took his arms and put it around him, and his own arms around Lance, to show the guy that he should not interfere with them. He then left them alone, seeming grumpy. 

When Keith once again looked at Lance their faces was really close. They looked into each other’s eyes standing still for a moment before Keith looked away and started dancing again, just this time it was very close to Lance, their arms still laced around each other. 

Pidge returned to the table where Hunk was still sitting. 

“What’s up?” she asked him.

“Well Our boy is living the dream he denies all the time” Hunk pointed up at Lance and Keith, as Pidge saw them she exclaimed a gasp. 

“Oh my god! He is doing it, how did you convince him to do it?!” 

“Shiro danced very sensually with Keith so he got very jealous and went up there. I am almost proud of him” Hunk explained. Making Pidge laugh. 

“We might need to find some earplugs for tonight, if you know what I mean” Pidge continued laughing. 

“oh boy I didn’t think this through” Hunk said jokingly. 

On the dancefloor Lance leaned into Keith’s ear. “I want to tell you something” 

Keith looked at him “Then let’s go somewhere else” he said and let go of him and looked around. As he spotted a place where no one was sitting he took Lance’s hand and went to sit down. It was at a table on the other side of the dancefloor, no one they knew could see them. Lance sat down besides Keith. Neither of them let go of the other’s hand.

“So what is it?” Keith asked. 

“You know the day I figured out you were gone? I was going to tell you something” 

“what was it?” 

“you know I well,” had he told him back then, he would have been hesitant to tell him but now, due to the alcohol it went right out of his mouth. 

“I was going to tell you that I was in love with you” 

“you were..?” Keith asked, he was surprised yet a little bit sad at the statement. 

“How would you have reacted back then?” Lance asked, now he was very curious. 

“If you had told me back then, I don’t know I guess I would have kissed you” Keith said honestly, no one could see them, he could be honest. 

“Really? What if I told you that the feelings were still there today?” Lance asked. Keith let go of his hand.

“You’re too late now” was all he said. Lance could feel his heart break. 

“Do you have a boyfriend or something?” He tried not to seem too broken. 

“I don’t. And seeing you here again does steer up my old high school feelings, but it’s kind of complicated” Keith suddenly seemed a little troubled and at unease. 

“So you do like me too or what?” Lance was very confused. 

Keith closed his eyes for a moment, leaving Lance’s question hanging. He then opened his eyes and glanced around, making sure that no one saw them. Luckily he had picked a spot that were pretty hidden from the staff and other people he did not want to watch now. 

“Do you like Shiro?” Lance asked but one second after he asked, he got his answer. 

Keith Leaned in very close to him and the gap between their lips closed, making them join for a kiss. A passionate kiss setting off adrenalin through Lances body, his heart beating fast. 

He placed his hand on Keith’s cheek making them even closer. The kiss lasted for a couple of seconds followed up by another kiss. Not long after, they were making out. After all alcohol does make you want to do such things. 

After several minutes Keith pulled away. Their eyes met. 

“I have to go” Keith said as he stood and fled out the staff’s door. He had seemed a little off. 

Lance sat there for a moment, trying to understand what had just happened. He touched his lips softly, did he really just kiss, no not just kiss, but made out with his high school crush? It felt unreal for him.  
After a couple of minutes, he returned to his friends and told them about what had happened.


	2. The Big Secret

The next day Lance woke up in his bed. As he sat up a ray of sun hit his face, it was a little past 12. How long had they been out yesterday? An aching pain hit his head, he now remembered how much he had had to drink the day before. His body felt heavy and he was not in the mood for getting out of bed yet. 

That was when the memory hit him, the memory of him and Keith dancing close together and the memory of the two of them just before Keith ran away. He couldn’t help but smile. It wasn’t until he had gone through the memory a couple of times in his head that he wondered about why he had left him right after the kiss. He recalled the merely sad expression on Keith’s face. Why would he be sad right after kissing someone? How weird, Lance thought to himself. Then the thought that it might have been a dream struck him, but he dismissed that idea when he felt his headache once again. 

He decided to get out of bed to rehydrate and maybe get a little better. His mouth were dry as he with slow steps went to the kitchen. He grabbed the nearest water bottle and sat down on the couch. Pidge was there, she had been up for a couple of hours, after all she did not drink as much as the other. She was reading but when Lance sat down he got her attention. 

“Good morning Loverboy, how are you feeling?” she seemed too fresh to even be human at this moment. 

“awful” was all Lance said as he opened the water bottle and began downing it, it was not until now that he realized just how thirsty he was. 

Pidge laughed “I thought you would be all high on your experience from yesterday, but guess even you can’t overcome the power of the hangover” 

Lance leaned his head against the back of the couch “you’re funny huh” he said but he could not help but smiling. Having Pidge know about it, it definitely wasn’t a dream. 

“It was quite nice” He added. 

“haha yeah, so are you going to see him again?” Pidge asked, thinking she’d already knew the answer. 

“of course! I can’t just ignore him now, the guy kissed me! If I ran away now he would be totally devastated” Lances energy was almost back at normal, at least his confidence wasn’t having a hangover. 

“So you got his number or something so you can contact him?” Pidge asked. 

Lance lifted his head from the couch back, as if he had forgotten something “no” he said, already regretting that he had not asked for it “How dumb can I be?! I finally found him and then I don’t even get his number, how am I supposed to find him again?!” he was panicking, was he gone for real again? Just because he had been dumb enough not to ask for the number. 

“Why don’t you just go back to the bar?” Pidge asked calmly. 

“But what if he doesn’t return?!” 

“Wasn’t he one of the owners slash bar tenders? He’ll properly be back again” 

“you’re right! Oh my! I can still find him! Thanks Pidge” Lance was smiling again “I’ll go back again tonight and talk to him!” he exclaimed. 

“Is that really a good idea? Aren’t you starting on your new job tomorrow?” Pidge lifted her eyebrow, questioning Lances actions already. 

“You’re right! But I’ll only go to get his number then” Lance said, he was determined to get it, and no matter what Pidge said she wouldn’t convince him to do otherwise. 

“well it’s your choice” Pidge said and continued her reading, while Lance finished his water bottle. 

At night he went to the bar they had been at the night before. He arrived early so he could skip the line. He didn’t want to use all night risking not to see Keith and ending up being really tired for his first day at work tomorrow.

As he got inside he went straight to the bar. Luckily for him, Keith was at work, serving people in the bar. There wasn’t as many people today, both because he was early and properly also because it was Sunday.

As Keith laid eyes on Lance he hesitated in his action for a moment, why was he here? He served another costumer and then went to Lance. “okay, what do you want?” He asked like he was just serving a costumer.

“I’m here to get your number” Lance said with a smirk all over face. He leaned against the bar, a way for him to flirt. 

Keith sighed “If you’re not here for a drink I can’t help you” he went to serve another costumer, leaving Lance by the counter, open mouthed and confused. 

“Wait!” Lance said. 

“you can’t just come and stop me from working” Keith said and returned to the other costumer. 

“Are you just gonna leave me hanging after yesterday?” Lance asked, his eyebrows knitted, what was going on? They had such chemistry yesterday. 

Keith ignored him as he mixed a drink for someone else. 

“Won’t you tell me what is going on at least?” Lance asked. After Keith was done serving two costumers he returned to Lance. He leaned down to the counter. 

“listen yesterday might have been a dream come true for both of us but you can’t get attached to me, so you need to let me go” He said and rose to stand upright again, he was clearly saddened by his situation, but soon returned to his bartender face. He had to look somewhat happy but most of all flirty, that would sell more drinks. 

“So you like me too!?” Lance asked, he had great habit of only responding to what he liked the most in a situation like this. 

“Leave Lance..” Was all Keith said. 

“But Keith!” 

“Not today” Keith said and looked at him with a kind of angry expression over his face, and a saddened look in his eyes. 

“Okay I’ll leave you be” Lance said and left, he understood a hint, sometimes. 

“Thanks” Keith said watching Lance leave through the door with a small sighed. He could feel his heart getting heavy, but he could not show it. To the costumers it had looked like he just was not interested in the guy, which was not the case. Back in High School Keith had had the biggest crush on Lance, but he had never had the guts to do anything about that. Simply because he knew that Lance was straight there was no way he would ever have a chance. But now he had, and now he could not act on it. He thought that the kiss the night before would be some kind of closure for him to forget all about his old life. But right now, it only felt like he had gone down a path that would only end in misery no matter what. He could not be with Lance no matter how much he wanted it. There were rules and Keith would do anything to keep him safe, even if it meant keeping him out of his life. 

When his shift was done he went into the back. The back was almost just as decorated as the bar was. Everything was the best quality furnishing there was to be found in New York. Everything in equally dark brown, red and black colors. No windows. In the back of the staff room there was a stair case leaving up to the apartments in the building. Keith went up a couple of floors. It was a very big building and not in the cheap end. At the middle floor he went into an apartment. This was where he lived. This apartment was dark and simply furnished, with a lot of rooms, it seemed like more people lived here. But only one was home before Keith. In the living room a man lied on the couch in front of a fire place. There were no Tv and all the curtains were closed leaving the only source of light to the fire. Some classical music was playing to zone out the music from the bar downstairs.

“Funny how I hate the sun but I love this fire” The man on the couch said. He was wearing a long wine red silk robe and nothing else. With a glass of wine in his hand he spoke to Keith. He had slick back long white hair, a slim face and just as pale skin as Keith. Keith walked closer to him. 

“Don’t we all” Keith answered the man. 

“Indeed Keith. Come pver here I am hungry” he sat up, put the glass of vine on the table next to the couch. He gestured for Keith to come to him. 

“Of course.” Keith said. He walk to him and sat face to face on top of his legs, with a leg on each side of the man. 

The guy took his hand and pulled it to his nose, smelling it. “mmmm you are my favorite” he said and pulled him closer. He slowly placed a kiss on Keith’s neck with a small laugh, he placed more and more kisses over his neck to warm it up. Keith trembled even though he was used to this, it still felt the same as the first time. After a little while the man found the perfect place on Keith’s neck and bit through his skin with his sharp teeth, making Keith exclaim a sound through his breath. 

 

For the next couple of days Lance went to work and then straight home without doing anything else, he did not feel like it. All he wanted to do was to be with Keith, but he could not and that thought kept him down. 

After a week his roommates and best friends got worried and decided to do something about it, they brought a hot cup of cocoa to Lance in his room. 

“Who are you?” Pidge asked Lance. 

With a confused laugh Lance answered “what? I’m Lance, you know me Pidge”. 

“Then why are you giving up” She asked. 

“Because I have no chance, it’s over for real now” Lance looked down at the cocoa he had received. 

“I don’t know this Lance , do you?” Hunk asked Pidge.

“No I don’t either, our Lance wouldn’t give up this easily” Pidge said and they both looked at Lance.

“Guys… there’s no hope, I’m not good enough” Lance said. 

“Seriously Lance, he kissed you and told you that it was a dream come true, he properly has been feeling just like you for years, so why is he pushing you away?” Hunk said. 

“I don’t know” 

“Then don’t you think you deserve to know? He can’t just do this to you without giving you an explanation!” Pidge said. 

“I guess” lance said and looked at them. 

“Then get up and go find him and kiss him and tell you’d fight for him and you to be together” Pidge said. “don’t just accept without an explanation” she added.

“You’re right! I finally found him I can’t let him go this easily” 

“There he is” Hunk said. 

“I’ll go and talk to him tonight!” Lance said. 

“Yes, you are! And we’re going with you to make sure you get to talk.” Pidge said. 

“You don’t have to guys” 

“But we will, it’s important to you so we have to make sure it happens” Hunk said. 

“Thanks guys” Lance said with a bright smile and a laugh, he put the cup down and hugged his two friends. 

At night they all went to the bar. And as lucky as they were Keith was working tonight. It was almost like he was working every night. Even though this was only their third time being there they were lucky enough to run in to Keith every time. 

Keith saw Lance and looked like he was giving up. It did not seem like he wanted to see Lance right now. 

Hunk and Pidge went up to Keith and ordered drinks, that way he had to talk to them. 

“Keith, buddy, you remember us, right?” Hunk said. 

“yeah of course I do” Keith said, they were friends in High School after all. 

“we need to talk to you, when is your shift done?” Pidge asked. 

“in half an hour… I this about Lance?” He asked.

“yes, please don’t run away, he just wants some closure” Hunk said.

Keith glanced at Lance who waved to him. “fine” He said and handed them three drinks “Take these and sit somewhere a little less visible, then I’ll come when I’m off” Keith said and went back to serving as a bartender. 

After half an hour they had drunk their drinks and was just waiting for Keith. Lance was so nervous he was fiddling with his fingers and moving his leg until he saw Keith approaching them. He actually came. 

He sat down at the table with them. It was a small table near the place Keith had picked the other day. 

“Then what do you want to say?” Keith asked, looking at all three of them. 

“Well, technically it is none of our business, so we’ll leave it to Lance.” The two friends said. 

“Okay then, Lance, what do you want to say?” Keith now only looked at Lance. 

“I can’t let you go” Lance said. 

“You have to” Keith said a little too fast.

“Why? You seemed interested last week and then suddenly you’re not? What is going on?” Lance asked.

“I can’t tell you. But it’s not good. Hell, I’m not even allowed to talk to you, and yet here I am” 

“What?! why not?” Lance seemed a little worried, the other two seemed very curious. 

Keith sighed. “Truth be told the real owner of the bar owns more than just the bar, and even though we’re ordered to flirt with everyone we are not allowed to do anything else within this bar, or he’ll do.. Something bad” 

Lance did not know how to answer to that. “soooo it’s not like you don’t like me right?” 

“I do like you, but I’m not allowed to, so you have to go so he doesn’t figure out who you are” Keith put his hands on the table to make a point. But all that got him was that Lance took his hands to hold them. He looked down at their hands while Lance started talking. 

“Keith, I’m not letting you go, I’ve finally found you again, it’s like a miracle! So I have to take this opportunity and fight for this, it does not sound like you’re happy being someone’s property. So call me your knight in shining armor” Lance looked him in the eyes. 

Alongside the table Pidge whispered to Hunk “This is almost like a soap opera” they silently laughed, but the other two did not notice it. They were too busy. 

Keith couldn’t help but to show a little smile “I really can’t get rid of you huh?” 

“That is not going to be easy” Lance said with a big smile. 

“Even if tell you that it is very dangerous to get involved with me?” 

“I would risk my life for you” Lance said. 

“Fine, I guess I really cannot shake you. But you can’t come here anymore. Give me your phone” 

Lance only let go of Keith’s hand to find his phone and hand it to Keith. 

“I’ll give you my number, so we can meet somewhere else. But I can only meet at night and don’t expect me to answer or pick up during the day.” As he told Lance all this he put his number into Lance’s phone. 

“Yes yes of course” Lance didn’t even ask why, but he gladly accepted the conditions if it meant he’d be able to be together with Keith. 

“But you have to promise never to come here again so he’ll never figure out who you are” Keith said before he handed lance his Phone. 

“I promise” Lance was quick to say. 

“good I’ll have to go now, you can just text me in a couple of hours” Keith said as he stood up, he seemed to be a bit in a hurry.

“I’ll see you soon then!” Lance said and stood up as well, expecting a kiss but Keith was already gone. 

The three left the bar and Keith went to his apartment through the back. The guy in the silk robe was there, he always was. Today he was standing up. He had been waiting. 

“Keith” he said when Keith arrived to the living room.

“Lotor” Keith said, walking to him. 

“I know what you have been up to” He said. 

“You do?” Keith asked, he was not sure how to react to this statement of his. 

“You have been exercising to impress me” Lotor said with a big pleased smile his face. 

“I’m glad you can see it” Keith said, thinking how lucky he was that Lotor had not figured out anything. 

“I love it Keith, you really are my favorite. We’ll go to my bedroom tonight, I don’t want to get disturbed. I need to have only you for the rest of this long night” Lotor took Keith’s hand and lead Keith to his bedroom. It was rare for him to bring his underlings with him to his bedroom, but Keith had been there a couple of times. 

“Tonight, I’ll please you” Lotor said as he locked the door and pushed Keith to the bed. 

The next day Lance really wanted to contact Keith right away. He was about to text him, when he remembered that he properly wouldn’t answer before tonight, so he spend all day thinking up a text to start a conversation. 

When the sun was setting Lance send his text to Keith. It read:   
‘Hey Keith! <3 I’ve been thinking, do you want to go out tonight? if you are not at work of course. I know a great Italian restaurant not far from my apartment we could go to, and then I could show you my apartment afterwards ;)’ 

Luckily Keith’s phone was located in his own room, because at this very time Keith was putting on his clothes in Lotor’s room, and even though Lotor was sleeping there were still a chance that he would wake up from Keith receiving a text, and if he heard it he would demand to see it. 

Keith stretched and silently snuck out and in to his own room. He was feeling bad for not saying no to Lotor now, but he could not say no. he fell onto his bed and reached for his phone. He read the text while smiling. He decided to text back.

‘sounds good. what time do you want to meet? And I think we should meet at the station near my bar’

Since Lotor had kept him up all night and day he would automatically gain a free day today. He was free to do whatever he wanted, therefore it wouldn’t seem strange to everyone else if went out tonight. 

The text arrived to Lance’s phone faster than he had expected. He jumped up excitedly and grabbed his phone to see what Keith had texted him. He hurried to text me back. 

‘what about at 8 pm.? That’s a good time get a good table at the restaurant! <3’ 

Keith read the text and googled when the sun was down, it went down at 7 so that would be perfect for him. 

‘that sounds good, see you at 8 then’ 

Lance answered with:   
‘see you there! <3’ 

And lastly Keith answered with a heart in return. He was not really good at texting and using emojis and such. But if he knew Lance he knew he’d be happy to receive that. And just as he thought, Lance was delirious. His smile could not fall. 

He walked around singing “Guess who’s got a date tonight~” the others just laughed at him. They definitely liked happy Lance better than sad Lance. 

Time passed, Lance and Keith met up at the station. It was cold out, so they were both wearing jackets and scarfs. They hugged at their meeting and started walking towards the restaurant, it wasn’t far away from there either. They lived pretty close to each other. While walking Keith took Lance’s hand and laced their fingers together. Lance felt a tingling feeling in his stomach. They went to the restaurant. And Keith asked for no garlic for both of them. Lance thought that was because there was going to be some kissing action later, so he just made sure that garlic wouldn’t make it gross. Beside the food they had red wine. 

When they were done eating they decided to walk to the apartment. Lance had made sure that Hunk and Pidge were not home. While walking they were talking. 

“it’s been some time since… no I’ve never actually really done this kind of thing before” Keith admitted. 

“Going on a date? Really? But you’re so popular here, I don’t believe it” 

“Do you mean people in the bar? They’re only after one thing and that does not include going out” 

“So no one ever wanted more? That’s hard to believe” 

“Well, I don’t want people get close to me so I’m always saying no to dates” Keith spoke the truth outright, the red wine helped him being honest. 

“oh yeah because of that guy right?” Lance asked. He took Keith’s hand to hold, and their fingers automatically laced together.

“Yeah” 

“why don’t you get out of his hands?” 

“I can’t” 

“Why not?” 

Keith looked slightly around to his surroundings “How far are we from your apartment?” He asked. 

“Oh it’s right here” as he said that they arrived at the front door. 

“Great, if you promise to keep it secret I’ll tell you when we get up” Keith said. It was not hard to see that this was one of his deepest secrets. But since they kind of already really knew each other and since they maybe were going to really be together, he might as well tell him the truth. 

“Okay” Lance said as he fumbled his keys up from his pocket and unlocked the door. They went up to the apartment and took off their jackets, scarfs and shoes. 

“I have some wine we can share” Lance said and went to the kitchen to grab it. “You can just sit down wherever you want!” 

Keith sat down in the couch, he looked around, you could see the night sky through the big windows. 

“So back in High School I was kidnapped” as Keith started his story Lance sat down beside him with the wine. 

“but it was no normal kidnapper. His name was Lotor and at first, he only attacked me on my running path. He bit me, making me bleed, I could feel him suck out my blood and I grew weaker in his arms”   
Lance interrupted “you mean a vampire attacked you?!” 

“Yeah that’s exactly what happened. Anyway, something made him stop before I lost consciousness. He said something I didn’t catch and followed up with ‘come with me if you want to live’ so I had no choice but to go with him. He took me to a house out of town and put me to sleep. When I woke up it was night again. My neck was sore but that was not the only weird thing. Everything felt different, I was cold but I didn’t freeze, I wasn’t hungry nor thirsty despite not having anything for 24 hours.” 

Lance interrupted yet again. “did you get turned into a vampire?!” he was surprised but not disappointed, he didn’t care what he was, Keith was Keith and that was all he wanted. 

“Yeah but never call me that again, and do not tell anyone, not even Hunk and Pidge.” 

“I promise” Lance said. 

“So, the reason he owns me is because he turned me into this, and if you are turned you are bound to the one who turned you until they die. I cannot oppose because he can kill me with a blink of an eye. And besides that, he is very powerful so if I or any of the others gets too close to someone other than him, he would bring them in, torment them and kill them. Which is why I wanted you to keep you distance, one thing is my own life but I don’t want him to touch you.” Keith felt bad for going out with Lance without telling him this first. 

“So you do really like me..” Lance said. 

“Is that all you got out of that story?! If there’s one person I’d set before my own life it’s you” 

“wow Keith, I’d take the chance of dying if it means I can be with you” 

“You’re so cheesy Lance” Keith smiled at his own statement, the feeling of being loved was rare to him, but it felt nice. 

“pff!! I’m not! I’m just telling the truth! I have been looking for you for five years so I’m not letting go of you no matter the cost” Lance said. It was such a sentimental moment, it was hard to believe that they would having a conversation like this. But they did. 

“you’re still cheesy. I like it” Keith said. He leaned against the couch back facing him. 

“I like you” Lance said. 

“I like you too” Keith answered. “Even though I am.. you know?” Keith asked.

“I think that it‘s cool, now I have a vampire boyfriend” Lance smiled big.

“boyfriend?” Keith asked a little confused. 

“you know, if you want?” Lance asked.

“I mean, yeah okay, you can call me your boyfriend, but not in front of anyone from the bar and that includes Shiro” 

“why Shiro? Do you have something with him?” Lance asked. 

“No, I mean I did once but not anymore. But he is old friends with Lotor, he might tell him” 

“ohh okay! I’m glad it’s only that! I’ll only tell Pidge and Hunk then” Lance assured him of that.

“Thank you” Keith said. 

“No problem” Lance said and finally poured some wine for them. The drank the whole bottle while having a small talk now that they had been through the serious stuff. 

After they finished the bottle they could both feel it in their blood. A radio was playing music so now that there were no more wine, Lance stood up took Keith’s hands and pulled him to the floor where there was space for them to dance. Not many seconds passed before Keith wrapped his arms around Lance and pulled him closer so they could dance close again. A couple of moments passed before Lance opened his mouth.

“You know, you being a vampire is actually kind of hot” 

“Haha you really think so?” Keith asked his gaze wandering between Lance’s eyes and mouth. 

“yes, if you want to bite me you can just do so” Lance said. 

“No” Keith said, but pulled him closer to kiss him. After a couple of seconds, one kiss turned into more kisses, they pulled away and kissed again, making it more and more passionate. Before they knew better they were making out again, this time though they were all alone. 

Keith ended up staying the night.


End file.
